The Last Voyage
by rapturemelancholia
Summary: Cerys wakes up with no memory of how she got there. She finds out she's been pushed almost 200 years into the future and into the events of the Collectors. (Set in Mass Effect 2, mentions of suicide & depression, rated M just to be sure)
1. Chapter 1: Awakening

**Author's Note: I made Jeff a little unsure around women because I just chose to. He acts all tough and sarcastic over comm but is unsure how to act socially. To be honest, I will probably leave this unfinished forever because that is how I work, but you never know. Just don't get your hopes up if you like it. I feel like Joker needs more love because of the completely adorable jerk he is. Also, my character is not Czech, just has a Czech surname.**

* * *

 **Cerys**

* * *

It was freezing cold when Cerys opened her eyes. Her vision was distorted and everything was blurry. When she tried to take a step forward, everything in her view seemingly moved on its own. She lifted her foot to take a step but fell to the ground with a loud thud, her thin bones and aching flesh colliding with cold, hard metal. She had hit a sharp edge and a warm liquid was trickling down her brow. The sound that came from the drops of blood dripping down onto the ground reminded her of the rain hitting a gravel road.

Her vision slowly regained itself and she began to see contours of what seemed to be a big warehouse. Her eyes widened as she saw a large window at the end of the room that overlooked a whole galaxy. Stars were painted across the vast darkness. Shocked and confused, Cerys dropped to her knees. This was not possible.

A sound came from the other side. A door was being opened. It had a sound similar to an automatic sliding door, only that is sounded much heavier. Footsteps could be heard clanking down the metallic floor. Cerys had no time to hide before she was faced with the barrel of a gun. Panicked, she shuffled backward, struggling to get away from the stranger. A wrong placement of the hand sent her tumbling down a set of stairs. She screamed out as her head smashed into the railing. Then she laid unmoving at the end of the stairs.

* * *

 _There was a light; the sun. Her own sun, in her own milky way. Her house, messy as always with paper and books scattered all over. The plants were alive, green as she had left them. Her mother stood by the counter, complaining about the mess. The cat meowed and rubbed against Cerys's leg, demanding to be pet. There was a fire; a big fire with blue flames that seemed to reach all the way up to the sky. Her mother screamed and screamed as the fire melted her flesh as if she was a plastic doll. Cerys trembled as she watched her mother fall to the floor, reduced to nothing but burnt bones. She watched the flames rise around her, engulfing her whole body. Her flesh, her blood, the flames. Everything was red._

She jolted upwards trying to catch her breath. She was drenched in sweat and her whole body felt like it was on fire. _It was only a_ _nightmare_. Examining the room she saw that it was small. It had the feeling of a hospital room but it looked like it was taken from a sci-fi movie scene with futuristic beds and advanced technology littering the white desks that were positioned against the wall opposite from where she was lying. Her head was hurting too much for her to think properly and summed it up to be a really bad hangover and that her friends were only playing a prank on her.

"You're awake and alive, I see."

Cerys gasped, frightened by the sudden and unknown voice. She _did_ feel safer that it wasn't a man's voice, however.

The woman apologized and stepped into the room, "I didn't mean to scare you." The woman had a worn, wrinkled face that held authority. Her eyes spoke a different story as they were soft and kind. "I'm Doctor Chakwas. Karin Chakwas." The woman introduced herself, pulling up a chair beside the bed. She sat down and rested her hands in her lap. "Now, what do you remember?" She asked, an unsure smile forming on her lips.

Cerys' lips trembled as she tried to remember what had happened before she woke up. Everything was blank. "I... I don't remember anything at all. I don't know where I am or what happened. The only thing I remember was leaving my apartment and waking up here." Not being able to hold back her tears anymore, she let them fall freely. Covering her face with her hands, she sobbed uncontrollably. Chakwas listened to Cerys' attempt to explain how scared she was between her sobs. When Cerys couldn't cry anymore, she looked up to the doctor with red, puffy eyes and said, "My name is Cerys Procházková, I was born in San Francisco in 2012, and I need to know where the _fuck_ I am."

Her sentence seemed to shut out all sounds. The room turned dead silent. Only the buzzing sounds from the machines could be heard.

Chakwas stared at the woman, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. "That's impossible..." Surely the woman had hit her head too hard and she was only rambling nonsense. But her clothes, her way of speech... it all made sense. "But then you would be almost two hundred years old! There is no technology even today that can make that possible."

Cerys' eyes narrowed. "Is this some sick joke? Did my friends put you up to this? Well, it's not fucking funny." She spat and got off from the bed. Looking at herself, she noticed that she wasn't wearing her own clothes, but rather a set of white hospital-like clothes.

Chakwas's eyes were blank, "I'm afraid this is not a joke. Follow me." She motioned toward the door opposite of her. You could almost see outside, but the windows were too tinted to get a good look at what was out there. Cerys hesitantly followed the doctor. They walked into a large room what seemed to act as a mess hall. In one corner there was a small kitchen area. The room went quiet and all the people who had previously eaten their food stopped to look at Cerys. Some looked scared, and others stared at her with suspicious eyes.

Cerys thought they all looked human, only that they had futuristic-looking clothes on. So far, Cerys didn't believe the doctor.

They stepped into an elevator. Cerys was going to ask how they were going to go anywhere since the elevator didn't have any buttons. Before she could ask though, the elevator started moving up at an insane speed. It stopped and the doors opened. A man was just about to step into the elevator when he noticed Cerys. A confused expression painted his face. "Uh, doctor, why is there a girl in pajamas here?" He asked and smirked. The man was taller than Cerys by at least one feet and had a stubble. Cerys noticed he was wearing a cap that said SR2.

Before Chakwas could answer, he entered and stood beside Cerys. Cerys felt her chest tighten at the sudden loss of personal space but said nothing. One thing she noticed was his way of walking; slouched with a slight limp. Chakwas was shooting mean glances at him and seemed to be mouthing something that Cerys couldn't hear.

Biting her lip, Cerys spoke, "Who are you?"

The man seemed surprised by her question. "Me? I'm the pilot here. I'm Joker."

"Joker?"

"That's what everyone calls me since I joke so much." He said with a smile. After that, he kept his eyes glued to the ground. He was clenching and unclenching his fists as if he was anxious.

Cerys raised a brow, "What's your real name then?"

Joker turned his attention to her. "Uh, it's Jeff. You can call me that instead if you want." He mumbled and scratched his neck.

Cerys smiled at him. "Okay, Jeff. Nice to meet you, I suppose." She paused for a moment. Should she introduce herself as well? "I'm Cerys." She decided to tell him after all.

The doors opened and they all stepped into what seemed to be both a bedroom and an office. A man was sitting at a white plastic desk and he was holding a transparent tablet in his hands. The way he was sitting with his back straight and eyes vigilant told Cerys he held some sort of authority. He might even have been military. He seemed surprised to see us all there, but stood up and greeted us nevertheless. "Chakwas, Joker..." He nodded at them before turning his attention to Cerys. "Who are you?"

Cerys was panicking a bit and straightened her back. "I uh... my name is Cerys Procházková... sir." In the last fifteen minutes, Cerys had started to doubt more and more about the prank theory. The situation she was in started to get more real as time went by and it was terrifying her to no end. Being trapped in a place full of strangers and having nowhere to go was frightening. "Can you _please_ tell me what is going on?"

Having nothing to hide, the man answered truthfully, "We're not sure. You just appeared out of nowhere in the engine room. At first, we thought you were a saboteur or a spy. Your clothes and your reaction to being confronted was a dead giveaway that you weren't a spy." His voice had lowered drastically as he explained, a melancholic tone had replaced his usual stern one. "To be sure, we ran your DNA in a database to find out who you were. We found the records and they stated you had been dead for more than hundred years. A fire spread through the whole town and killed half of the population."

All colors slowly drained from her face. The room was spinning; her heart beating faster and faster. "This can't be real. This is just some sick fucking joke!" She began hyperventilating, her lungs feeling like paper being crumpled into a ball. Chakwas was by her side in a split second, speaking in a calm voice. Cerys couldn't hear or see anything but static. Hugging her knees, she sobbed loud as Chakwas stroked her arm in a soothing manner. "I can't do this. I want to go home. I want my life back." Cerys looked pleadingly at them. Her tear-streaked face was fear-stricken. A few minutes later, she was sound asleep due to exhaustion.

"Let's move her to the med-bay," Chakwas whispered.

* * *

When Cerys awoke, she once again found herself in the same place as before. Paranoia filled her mind and she thought that she would relive all recent events like it was _Edge of Tomorrow._ This time there wasn't a woman by her side, but rather the man she had met right before getting a panic attack. The man tilted his head. He looked intrigued by her. Crossing his arms, he asked how she was feeling.

"Yeah, well I feel like shit. I still don't know if this is some sick joke or if I've actually lost everything I have ever known. How the fuck do you think I feel?" She snapped and laid to face the other way.

"You're right, it was a dumb question." The room was quiet for a moment. "What are you going to do now?"

Cerys felt a pang of pain hit her. What was she going to do? She had to face the fact that there was nothing left for her; nothing of her own world. "I don't know. I have no idea where I am even." She turned to face him again. "Are you going to kick me out now?"

He laughed. Cerys was taken aback by this and looked down in shame. "Kick you out into space? Not gonna do that." He said. "But we can drop you off at the Citadel if you want; get you up and running for a new life. Or you could stay here on the ship and help us out in some way, but I have to warn you that we're on a suicide mission so you may want to give it some thought before saying yes. The chance of survival is slim to none."

Cerys blinked dumbfounded. Space? Her eyes widened with both excitement and fear. "We're on a spaceship? A real spaceship?" There were so many questions flying around in her head. Why wasn't she dead? Why was she here? It was all so unclear and fuzzy and she couldn't remember a thing after leaving her apartment for the last time.

"I'm not trying to push you or anything, but we're arriving in the Citadel in about an hour. You need to decide soon."

"If I stay here, what am I supposed to help with? This technology is way ahead of what we had in my time." God, this made her feel older than she was. "I used to work with computers but my knowledge is outdated."

"Well, you could cook?" Cerys rolled her eyes at his statement. He cringed at his suggestion and said, "Well, you could accompany Joker up at the bridge. He never talks to anyone so it would be a good change, and he could teach you about the Normandy. You seemed to be quite interested in her."

Cerys nodded. She guessed this was a start. Not a good one, or a bad one - but it was a start.


	2. Chapter 2: Panic In Space

**Cerys**

It took a while to get settled in and I still had frequent panic attacks at random points of the day. The crew were both scared of me and pitied me, but I honestly paid zero attention to them. The first time I saw an alien, I screamed in his face. I was so scared and when I turned around there was a blue woman there! A _blue_ woman. I almost fainted when I saw the Krogan, Grunt, for the first time. I had only seen these kinds of _creatures_ in horror movies. Scared shitless, I hid in the med bay and made Chakwas promise me to guard the door. I had hidden under the bed, constantly glancing over my shoulder, afraid that there would be a freaking xenomorph behind me.

"Cerys, they aren't dangerous. They won't harm you." Chakwas tried to persuade me into going out again.

I shook my head, fear in my eyes and said, "They're _aliens_. They don't _exist_. One of them is a fucking _giant beetle_ and the other is a _frog_!" I shouted, hugging my knees. As the door opened, my heart felt like it was going to explode, but it was only the _Commander_.

"Commander.." Chakwas greeted and looked at us. Matt was glaring at me with a look of disappointment but also confusion. "Why did you scream at Mordin? _And_ Samara. I think you hurt Mordin's feelings." He said, crossing his arms.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I glared at him. Was he really serious? "Dude, in my time nothing was this bat shit crazy. Aliens didn't exist, and I was just happy not knowing about them." Standing up, I crossed my arms. I sighed, dropping my angst act, "I was just surprised. If you want I can go and apologize to them, just don't leave me alone in the same room as them."

Matthew shrugged, "Alright." And I followed him out. First, we walked to this _Mordin_ and made me apologize. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm not used to.. this." I said, fiddling with my thumbs.

"Distress understandable. Yelling unnecessary now. Have to get back to work." His voice was a bit.. monotone and I think he smiled a little, but I wasn't sure. I was just happy to get out of there.

Then he made me go to the blue woman, Samara, and so I apologized to her. She seemed to be meditating or something. After I said sorry I hurried out of there like a scared little dog with its tail between its legs. It felt like bugs were crawling all over me, making me scratch my skin until it bled. It was something I did when I was anxious and it seemed to freak out some people. Chakwas applied some medi-gel which I decided was the best thing about the future. The wound I had created was gone in a few hours and it was like a miracle something like this existed. Though, I shouldn't have been so surprised when I already knew about the Mass Relays.

Something Chakwas _hadn't_ mentioned was my dilated pupils. However light the room was, my pupils were always _huge_. That's why I chose to study everything new on the bridge with Joker since it was the darkest place and didn't hurt my eyes as much. I didn't exactly want to wear sunglasses all day.

"Are you gonna scream at me too?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

I slapped the back of his head with my tablet, "Hah, real funny." I sat down in the co-pilot's seat and began reading about different races to prepare myself mentally if I ever saw them. The only one that I did like was the Hanar that looked like fluffy pink jellyfish. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Joker staring at me.

"Mr. Moreau, I sense that Ms. Procházková does not like it when you stare." A female voice said and I threw the tablet right into the window which overlooked what was in front of the ship.

"What the heck was that? Why is everything so weird here?" I whispered and looked at Jeff with wide eyes.

He was on the brink to laugh his ass off. "Uh, it's our AI, EDI." He smirked, snickering to himself while I was freaking out.

Damned AI's? What if it heard my _thoughts_? No, I was just getting paranoid. Way too paranoid. I picked up the tablet, trying to shrug off the feeling of being watched by a robot. Joker was still staring at me despite what EDI said. Not that I think he's the kind of guy to listen to a robot. In fact, I don't know anyone who would listen to a robot. "I am already over this timeline.." I sighed, resting my legs on the armrest, continuing my reading about the Krogan genophage which was absolutely horrible. A tap on my shoulder almost made me throw the tablet again. _I swear.. everyone here is out to get me._ I turned around and saw Matthew with a black hoodie in his hands.

"Here." He said, handing me it, "In case you get cold." I had already gotten new clothes, consisting of a black tee, combat boots and a pair of pants that were a little too tight for my taste. It did show off my butt in a good way, though.

"Thank you." I smiled politely, pulling it over my head. It was warm, comfy and greatly appreciated. Matthew nodded, as to acknowledge my thankfulness for his little polite act and left the bridge without even saying goodbye.

I suddenly became very quiet, not moving a muscle. I felt weird and had a bad feeling in my gut. Joker noticed and spun his seat around to meet me.

"Hey.. you don't look so good. You alright?" His arms tensed and it looked like he would jump up any minute. I was quiet, staring intensely at my feet. My vision became blurry and it was hard to breathe. I was having another panic attack.

"H-Hey Chakwas, I don't think Cerys is feeling alright. I think she's having another panic attack." Joker said over the comm as he was limping over to me.

I had my head in my hands, my lips trembling violently as if I was in a subzero room. Joker came over to me, putting his hand on my shoulder to try and calm me down. To my surprise, I did calm down a little feeling the warmth from his touch. My lips stopped trembling and I could focus on breathing normally. "I'm... I'm sorry." A few tears left my eyes which I promptly wiped away with the sleeve of the hoodie. Chakwas came running towards me but I held my hand up and said, "I'm fine. You don't need to come running every time I have a breakdown."

She looked worried but nodded slowly, "If that is what you want, I won't bother you." She smiled a little and handed me a bottle of pills. "They calm you down a bit, take one every day and come see me in a few days."

The pill bottle weighed like a stone in my hand. I stuffed it in my pocket and gave her a small nod before she left.

Joker sat down again and asked, "You okay?"

I nodded, "Yeah, thanks for.. I don't know? Calming me down with your _superpowers_." I snorted a little at my own joke and went to go and sit down when Joker grabbed my arm.

He looked at me dead in the eye and said, "Are you _really_ okay?"

I bit my lip nervously, "No I'm not. Obviously. I'm a wreck. My family is dead and I'm 200 years into the future. Would you feel _okay_?" I was getting upset again, ripping away my hand from his grip and storming out of there and went down to the Port Observation where they let me stay, even giving me my own quarters which was more luxurious than most of the crew got.

"Hey, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Joker said over the comm.

"Get out of my ass Joker!" I shouted and buried my head in my pillow, cutting off my own air supply.

The door opened and _guess who stepped in the fucking door._ Joker. He had his crutches - which was still a mystery to why he had them - and sat down on the chair by the desk. "I'm just worried about my friend." He stated, putting his cap on my head.

I glared at him. "Why don't you go be worried about Shepard or something, he's been your friend for longer. I've just been here a week or so. And if you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly _friend material_."

He snorted, "Shepard's my friend but I would never hang out with him. Fuck, I'm not good at this stuff okay? Why can't it just be unicorns and fluffy clouds.."

I laughed out loud and punched him lightly on his arm. " _Unicorns and fluffy clouds..._ You're such a wuss!" I swore internally when I realized he wanted me to laugh at him to ease both him and me up. I went back to glaring at him while he just smirked.

' _Joker, we need you up here. You too Cerys._ ' Shepard said.

 _Me too?_ What the hell would he need me for?

I followed Joker up to the bridge where Matt was standing with a lot of gear. He already had his own on so why would he.. _Fuck._

He immediately saw my facial expression and gave me the puppy eyes look. "I need your help. See this as payment for me letting you stay on my ship." Joker rolled his eyes when he said _my ship_. I didn't really feel like arguing and took the gear he handed me. To amuse them, I took off my clothes, only leaving my underwear on and pulled on the full body suit while glaring angrily at Matt who gaped like a fucking idiot. It was tight and uncomfortable and was showing off all my curves, which I _hated_.

"I haven't shot a rifle or pistol in what? 200 years? Don't blame me if I shoot your balls off." I snarled, crossing my arms over my chest

I didn't even know we had docked, but apparently, the place was called Omega. It seemed like a slum place, but also pretty fly. When we were going into this place called Afterlife, a Batarian tried to flirt with me. _A four-eyed alien tried to get into my pants._ I hid behind Matt and used him as my human shield and only then had the Batarian backed off and let us in. "Holy fuck," I exclaimed when I saw _Asari strippers._ Well, at least there was something good about the future.

We were met by yet another Batarian and I felt that my luck had run out when he too was undressing me with his eyes. Matt noticed and whispered in my ear, "Must be your eyes." He snickered to himself as they walked up to Aria T'Loak, an Asari that ran this place.

"Shepard." She nodded at him and motioned for him to sit down. I stood near the stairs instead and didn't listen to his conversation with her, but instead admired the blue and purple lights of the place. The Batarian was still staring at me which made me feel a little uncomfortable. I mean, he probably looked at me with _all four eyes._ I was kind of silently whispering to god he would stop staring but he didn't. I didn't exactly look like a threat, more like a damned child with my short height and petite body. Even though I was carrying a gun, I was just about as dangerous as a puppy.

Matt had finished talking with Aria and dragged me out of there. He didn't seem pleased with their chat and was muttering to himself.

Then it struck me, "Wait, what the hell am I even supposed to do?" Furrowing my brows, I pulled his arm to make him stop walking and look at me.

He took a deep breath, "Destroy their gear and anything else you find that seems useful to them."

 _Was he batshit crazy? How would I manage to destroy it without blowing everything up? I would make too much noise and I will get spotted instantly._ "And how do you suppose I do that then?"


	3. Chapter 3: Archangel

Cerys walked with trembling legs in front of Matt into the neon-lit club. She caught sight of the merc standing guard outside a room in Afterlife and walked up to him. "You hiring?" She yelled over the music, putting a hand on her hip in an attempt to look intimidating. In truth, she was terrified to look for Archangel. He could probably fold her in half if he wanted. The merc nodded his head toward the door, motioning for them to go on inside.

A batarian greeted them with a smug smile, focusing on Cerys, "Well aren't you a sweet thing. Sorry honey you've got the wrong place, stripper's corner's that way." The mercenary leaned uncomfortably close to her.

Rolling her eyes with disgust, Cerys snarled, "Flattering, but I'm here to fight."

"Really, now..." The merc snaked his arm around her waist, whispering in her ear, "I know a way better use for you." His hand began trailing down to her bum. He stopped his movements as Cerys pointed a gun at his crotch, giving him a mean glare as a warning.

" _Honey_ ," She felt like spitting in his face, "I'm here to fight. If I wanted to fuck someone I would _not_ go to you." Cerys glared at him until he finally backed off with a frown. Behind her, Matt was about to laugh his ass off after her little performance. Matt _knew_ she was nowhere as tough as she made herself up to be and he found it very amusing that a Blue Suns mercenary was feeling threatened by a woman who could be compared to a little puppy.

"500 credits each to enter. You get paid when you finish the job and if you die, your friends don't collect your pay." The merc muttered, typing on his Omni-tool. Matthew brought up his Omni-tool too and sent the merc 1000 credits for them both. "Next." The merc said with a sigh as they exited and went to hail the cab to the station where Archangel was holed up.

Once they were there, they were supposed to report to a Sergeant Cathka. Once they were out of earshot, Matt turned to her, "Okay so this is the plan, you go sabotage some of their mechs while I try to get Cathka out of the way. I'll use the comm to reach you when I've found Archangel."

Cerys nodded, tying her hair up in a ponytail, "I'll try not to fuck it up." Her lips parted hesitantly, "Who exactly _is_ Archangel?" Matt shrugged

Matt shrugged, "I'm about to find out."

They continued walking until Matt saw a batarian working with a gunship. "Cathka?" Matt asked and caught the attention of the Batarian.

He removed his helmet and lit a cigarette, "Oh, you're the recruits Salkie talked about." His eyes moved to Cerys with a smirk, "But _you_ don't look like a fighter."

Cerys sighed internally. Apparently, all races have disgusting men. She mustered up a smile, "Not my choice. I owe him." She nodded to Matt who chuckled quietly under his breath. It had been amusing for everyone seeing the young, small woman stomping through Omega, geared up for a fight.

Cathka took a long drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke into their faces. Cerys who was used to her mom smoking inside the house didn't mind, but Matt coughed and tried waving the smoke away. "Would be a real shame for such a pretty girl to die."

Fighting the urge to puke, she said, "I'll go get ready. I don't want to go in there unprepared." She glanced at Matt who nodded at her with an encouraging glint in his eyes

Finding her way around wasn't easy as the place seemed to be built like a maze. After coming to dead ends a few times, she finally found the inactive mech in a storage room. "Okay... here goes nothing." Cerys puffed out air from her lungs and bit her lip. Bringing up the Omni-Tool, she found it incredibly easy to hack the mech. She set it to hostile at activation so it would go into a frenzy and cause some chaos.

 _'And what do I do now then? Wait for Matt?'_ Cerys thought with a sigh. Now she would only need to find a hiding place and wait until Matt found this 'Archangel'.

Two hours later, Matt's voice boomed through Cerys' ears. He sounded out of breath as he spoke, "Alright, let's hurry on back to the Normandy before any more of them show up. Meet me at the exit."

Cerys clenched her jaw and scurried to where they had been dropped off. Matt was standing vigilantly by the cab with a rifle in his hands. He nodded at her as she approached him, giving her a pat on the shoulder, "You did great today."

She was just glad she didn't have to kill anyone with her own hands. The thought had bothered her since she found herself here. A thank you would have been nice, too, but Matt was a soldier and soldiers do not have time for thank you's in the midst of war.

Her gaze fell upon the Turian who stood leaned against the wall. Raising a brow at him, Cerys asked, "Are you Archangel?"

The Turian seemed to smirk at her, "Yep. Call me Garrus, though." He looked over to Matt, "So how'd Matt get you into this?"

Matt scoffed, "Hey now, I didn't get her into anything." Matt glanced at Cerys, his expression softening, "It's actually a long story."

Great, now she had to explain to yet another alien about her misfortune. Not only was she lost in space, but she also landed in the midst of a war. It was definitely not what Cerys had planned. She compared it to placing a cat in a boat and send it out to sea. Helpless, alone and confused.

Further introductions were put on hold as shouting was heard from around the corner. "I think that's our cue to leave." Garrus exchanged a nod with Matt as the three huddled up together in the cab, speeding off to the center of Omega.

Cerys felt like a pile of goo as she stumbled to the bridge, dropping down on the co-pilot's seat.

Joker was fast to crack a joke, "You look like you just ran all the way to the Citadel and back."

"The what?" Cerys bit her lip, trying to remember if she had read anything about it. She felt stupid not knowing anything anymore, it made her seem less intelligent.

Joker, who seemed to forget that she was a newcomer, apologized, "Oh, um... It's kind of a capital. It's kind of a big city for all races."

Humming, she clicked her tongue, "So it's an important, portable planet for politicians." She frowned. It seems you can't escape politics no matter where you go. She leaned back and stretched her arms, "Anyway, the debt is paid and I can finally sit back and enjoy space." She let out a yawn and closed her eyes. Thoughts about her cat came to mind. He was old but Cerys would have wanted to be with him until he died. "I had a cat once, ya know." a smile formed on her lips, "His name was Mr. Puffington and he was the best damn cat in the world. A normal tabby cat, but he was special. All cats are special." She sighed with sadness, "I haven't seen a single cat or dog here. I hate the future."

"I'm sorry, about what happened to you."

"Yes, I am too." She didn't meet his eyes, as her own were tear filled and ready to spill over. Bawling in front of an almost complete stranger was not on her to-do list.


	4. Chapter 4: Fatal Trauma

Cerys laid on her back in the bed, gazing up at the ceiling. Her eyelids felt heavy of sorrow and wishes of going back to save her mother gnawed in her mind. She wished this had not happened and that she had died in the flames. She did not know how she could have survived it. It was impossible - unless it had only been a dream.

She wondered if she was just dreaming. If so, it was an incredibly real dream. Her body ached from exhaustion after running around and fighting and all she wanted was to fall asleep, but she couldn't close her eyes for the fear of not waking up again. Then again, maybe it was best to never wake up again. It would be a comfort to dream forever and not think about what had happened. She got a terrible gut feeling and felt nauseous. Thinking like this was wrong. She should be happy she was alive. She should be happy that... _No_. She was not happy. She was furious with the world. Why had her mother been taken from her? Why had she survived?

With glossed eyes, she sat on the edge of the bed and held her head in her hands. Cerys missed the old world, with all its simplicity. She missed going to work in that coffee shop on the edge of the street and seeing boring customers all day long. She missed the peace. Now it was only violence and technology. Maybe not all things were bad, but she could not see the bright side of this new world. Hopefully, she would grow accustomed to it in time.

Her comm made a sound and she responded with a quiet, "Yeah?"

It was silent for a while before a soft voice could be heard, "We miss you. Please come back to us." Cerys caught her breath in her throat. _It was her mother's voice._ She kept repeating those words over and over again until it gradually faded away and Cerys was left with watery eyes and her heart beating fast. _What the fuck..?_ It wasn't possible. She was going crazy. _I'm fucking mad. I'm insane. Give me one good fucking explanation._

" _Um, you okay there?_ " Joker's worried voice snapped her out of her trance.

She stayed quiet, staring out into the never-ending space that surrounded her. It wasn't until she felt warm liquid trail down her ears and nose that she answered, "I'm fine, just... I think I'm bleeding from my ears. I don't feel so well either." Pushing off of the bed, she took a wobbly step toward the door. White spots appeared as static. Cerys tried to support herself on the dresser, but her arms failed her too and her body tumbled down to the floor. Her breathing became shallow as she became soaked in her own pool of blood. Her eyes rolled back, her muscles tensing, then going limp. Her chest didn't move, nor did her heart beat.

* * *

 **Cerys**

"Honey, can you wash the dishes?"

 _Sure, but I have to hurry._

"Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot about that test you have today."

I smiled, _It's okay, mom. You can go to sleep again, I'll take care of it._

She gave me a strained smile. Guilt was written in her eyes. She was sick, and it was not her fault. I was glad to help her. She was my mother after all. The best mother I could ever have wanted.

Sick, so very sick. Bloodshot eyes and pale skin. Raspy lungs and weak bones. Her body was decaying. Death was coming for her. Acceptance was hardest. Moving on was not a problem yet. Grief had already struck, however. So much grief.

 _Mom?_

Silence.

 _How are you feeling today? Did you take your medicine?_

Again, there was no answer.

I tiptoed through the hallway. It seemed to grow bigger with every step I took, wrapping itself around me like a cage. _Mom?_ My voice bounced on the walls, echoing through my ears in an ear-splitting pitch. There was something coming out from under the door. A light.

 ** _Flames_**

 **Roaring, fiery flames**

 **Scorched skin and flayed, red lips**

 **There is only blood and death in this place,**

 **There is no escape to the endless suffering.**


End file.
